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Wednesday’s “First Call” contains an injury update for a prominent Cincinnati Bengal before the team travels to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers this Sunday.
We also take an in-depth look at the Bengals’ offense, take a look at some changing betting information and get a better understanding of Shane Baz’s Major League debut.
Join the club
The Steelers aren’t the only AFC North team to have offensive concerns.
Their opponent this week, the Cincinnati Bengals, comes off a tough offensive performance in a 20-17 loss to Chicago last weekend. Along the way, they made four turnovers and totaled just 248 yards in total offense.
When it comes to total yards in the first two weeks, the Bengals (307 yards per game) have 24e in the NFL. It’s just four places in front of the 28e-classed Steelers (291 yards per game).
BengalsWire.com improved the Pro Football Focus rating for the Bengals’ performance against the Bears, where only one offensive player scored higher than a 66.6. It was former Pitt Panther wide receiver Tyler Boyd at 80.8.
The offensive line was particularly bad. The overall beginners scores were as follows:
Jonah Williams (LT): 45.2
Quinton Spain (LG): 48.5
Trey Hopkins (C): 64.8
Xavier Su’a-Filo (RG): 41.7
Riley Reiff (RT): 58.4
That’s good news for a Steelers front seven that won’t have Stephon Tuitt or Tyson Alualu and possibly without TJ Watt, Devin Bush, Alex Highsmith and Carlos Davis.
Coaches react
Speaking of the Bengals’ offense, their coaches are responding to post-game complaints from some star young players. Quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase complained about the lack of deep shots on the defense last Sunday.
Monday, the technical staff had their say.
“I understand the frustration,” offensive coordinator Brian Callahan said via The Athletic. “The structure of this defense… They stay on top and do a pretty good job.
“Sometimes it’s not as easy as ‘throwing the ball deeper’. This is a very general statement. There are a lot of things that go into this. In the end, we didn’t manage to make enough explosive plays to win a game.
Head coach Zac Taylor seemed a little less willing to keep the discussion going, saying only, “We had a few shots. Sometimes the blanket takes that away.
Higgins injured
One of the Bengals’ potential threats as wide receiver is Tee Higgins. He injured his shoulder in the loss to Chicago and is considered to be on a day-to-day basis.
#Bengales Wide receiver Tee Higgins missed time for Sunday’s game with a shoulder injury but came back in the 4th quarter. Zac Taylor says Higgins is in pain today. Taylor: We’re going to take it day by day and get a better idea of how he feels on Tuesday.
– Joe Danneman (@ FOX19Joe) September 20, 2021
He has 10 catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns in the first two games.
Place your bets
The news of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s pectoral injury seems to have scared some players.
The Steelers were 4.5 points favorite of the Bengals earlier this week on BetRivers.com. That number dropped to 3.5 within hours of Mike Tomlin’s press conference when the head coach announced Big Ben’s injury and failed to make much improvement to any of the Previously injured Steelers.
At 11:30 p.m. Tuesday night, the line returned to minus-4.
What did it look like?
In Tuesday’s “First Call” we told you Shane Baz won his Major League debut for the Tampa Bay Rays.
The former Pirates first-round pick allowed two earned runs on two hits in five innings, striking out five while walking none as the Rays beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-4 on Monday.
The analysis of the start-up of Baz goes even further. Via MLB.com’s Adam Berry, Baz threw 51 of his 65 shots for catches. This is the highest hitting percentage (78.5) of any starters in his MLB debut since the shots were first called in 1988.
Baz will then debut in Houston on September 28. Hopefully the Astros will have no more trash cans.
Tim Benz is an editor for Tribune-Review. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication, unless otherwise specified.
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